So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?
He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
He saith to him again the second time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he had said unto him
the third time, Lovest thou me?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
It's interesting, many, many years ago,
I heard a few sermons on this,
and every independent Baptist pastor I heard preach on this
who was supposedly King James only,
went back to the Greek and said,
well, let's figure out why on the third time
Simon was grieved, and they said,
well, this is a different version of love and everything.
You don't need to go back to the Greek
to understand the Bible.
What you need to do is understand the Bible better.
If you don't understand the Bible
and you feel like you need to go back to the Greek,
then you need to not preach on it
until you actually understand the passage.
But remember the story earlier,
how many times did Peter deny Jesus?
Three times.
And so the first time he says it to Peter,
the second time he says it to Peter,
and then the third time Peter's grieved.
Why?
Probably because he thought back to the time
that he denied Jesus three times.
And you notice when he says all these times,
love is thou me, and he said unto him,
Lord, thou knowest all things.
This is Peter speaking, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.
What is Jesus telling Peter?
He's basically saying if you truly do love me,
then show it through your actions.
Don't just say you love me like you did earlier.
Actually show it through your actions,
because if you truly do love me,
there is gonna be action associated with that.
It's not just a feeling.
He says, feed my sheep.
And that goes way back to Philippians 2
and all the verses we looked at
about how you're basically caring about other people
more than your own self.
You're looking on the things of others
rather than the things of yourself.
["O Come All Ye Faithful"]